Growth

“We implemented a money-back guarantee at the Brazen Head at the Leaping Frog Centre, Fourways, offering a money-back guarantee on all our meals. Staff were reluctant at first, but the guarantee forced us to maintain standards at our front and back of house. In the end, we only had to honour the guarantee once in eight months.”

It’s a stock standard differentiator that every company uses: Customer service. And yet so many businesses are anything but customer-centric. Whether you’re in a B2C or B2B environment, here are three areas you could improve today.

1. Guarantee Your Service

If you don’t believe in your service, you can’t expect anyone else to. So, guarantee your service. This should not just be an empty phrase — back up your guarantee with a money-back promise.

Advertise that promise in your business, on your website and in your communications. That tells your customers, “We have such confidence in our service, and we’re so determined to be great that we put our money where our mouth is.”

The benefits of a money-back guarantee:

It encourages first-time customers to try your services.

It forces your team to keep standards high and focus on results, as slip-ups will hurt your business immediately.

It fosters pride in your business. “Our service is 100% guaranteed to be great!”

It is a selling point. “At Venus Video Games, satisfaction is guaranteed, or your money back!”

It sets you apart from your competitors. Would you rather try a new store that offers a money-back guarantee, or one that doesn’t?

We implemented this at the Brazen Head at the Leaping Frog Centre, Fourways, offering a money-back guarantee on all our meals. Staff were reluctant at first, but the guarantee forced us to maintain standards at our front and back of house. In the end, we only had to honour the guarantee once in eight months.

2. Complaints: Relate and Recover

Often, what a customer wants most from a company is to be treated like a person. They want real, authentic, human interaction.

Mostly, this human kindness will come while you cater perfectly to their every need, deliver the goods and services efficiently and then send them on their way with a massive smile on their face.

But every now and then things will go wrong. The customer won’t get exactly what they were looking for, the service won’t be 100%, or there will be some kind of misunderstanding.

This is unfortunate and of course nobody wants it to happen, but occasionally it does. If handled properly, these hiccups can be an opportunity to improve customer relations, build real human interaction and turn an unhappy customer into a happy one.

When a customer calls into your bank branch to complain that an unauthorised debit order was taken off her account, treat the person like you would like to be treated. Here is a good procedure to follow that fixes the problem while building a real human interaction.

Understand the problem. Listen carefully and make sure you know exactly what the client’s complaint is.

It doesn’t matter if they actually signed an authorisation and it’s technically their fault. This isn’t about who’s right and who’s wrong. It’s about building a relationship of good customer service.

Take immediate action to fix the problem. In this case, reverse the debit order.

Ensure it doesn’t happen again. That means working out who authorised the debit, and why and adjusting your systems.

If you go through this process as efficiently and as pleasantly as you can, you might find the customer comes out the other side in a pretty good mood. Their complaint has been acknowledged, they’ve got an apology and it’s been sorted out.

Service Tip: Don’t take customer complaints personally. They are part of your job, and your role is to handle them professionally. When a passenger of your airline says, “You’ve lost my bag!” they don’t mean it was you personally who lost it. But in this case, you represent your airline, so you should take responsibility, apologise and sort it out.

3. Use Your Own Services

There’s no better way to check what your company’s service is like than by being your own customer. Of course, if people recognise you as one of their colleagues, they’ll be on their best behaviour, so use one of your digital channels, phone up or use a branch where they don’t know you.

Now pretend you’re a customer looking to make a purchase, but without too much knowledge of your systems. You’re a person off the street, as it were. What is your service experience like?

Here are some ways you can use your own services:

Try to get hold of your company. How easy is it to find your details? Is your website clear and logical, is your phone number prominently displayed? How is the phone answered?

Try to make a purchase. Is it easy? Is your query handled efficiently and quickly?

Most importantly, what’s the service like? Are the staff friendly, positive and dynamic? Do they go the extra mile to deliver exceptional service? Do they build relationships, do they provide help beyond just making the sale?

Phone to complain. Use the customer-care line, or website. You’ve been advertising this channel for years — what actually happens when someone uses it? Are complaints handled efficiently and in a positive spirit?

Leave a message. You can do this by voicemail, text or email. Does anyone get back to you?

Be inconvenient. Call over the weekend, after-hours, during lunch, or even during a busy period. Are the staff just as keen to help you? Can you even get hold of anyone?

Try to get hold of yourself. When last did you listen to your own voice message? What does the signature say at the bottom of your email? What does your switchboard operator say when answering the phone?

We’ve all seen those infomercials – the ones that urge us to call in to buy a blender or a mop or some other kind of gadget. If we call in the next 20 minutes, we’ll receive two for the price of one. Somehow, against my better judgment, I find myself thinking about calling in to cash in on the deal. But why?

It’s because those infomercials are all about urgency. You can use the same tactic to drive sales to your business, too.

Establishing urgency gives your customers a reason to act quickly. Their instinct is to take their time and think about the decision. But by throwing urgency into the mix, you’re eliminating the customer’s ability to think too hard or wait too long to buy.

But creating that sense of urgency isn’t always easy. Research from Hubspot finds that establishing urgency is the top challenge today’s salespeople face. If you’re struggling to drive urgency in your business, here are three ways to do it.

1. Establish scarcity

The more there is of an item, the less motivated we are to go out and get it. But if that item is scarce (or perceived as scarce), its value increases.

Think of the iPhone. How many people do you know who run out to get the newest iPhone on the day of its release? They stand in line for hours, wanting to be one of the first to have the new product, and knowing that eventually the store is going to run out of iPhones – at least until they get another shipment. But that won’t be for months.

That new model iPhone is perceived as scarce. There aren’t many of them, and time is running out to get one, so your purchase decision needs to be made quickly. The same idea can be applied to your products or services. Perhaps you only offer a limited number of products or you only open registration for your event for a limited time. With the window of opportunity much smaller, your prospects will be more likely to buy.

2. Focus on your customers’ needs

Establishing urgency doesn’t always have to be about scarcity, though. You can create a sense of urgency by understanding, from the customer’s point of view, why they need the product now. This goes back to understanding your customers’ needs, which you need to know to sell anything to them. You need to get to the bottom of what makes your customers tick and what their pain points are. Then you can focus on how your products or services offer a solution.

The customer is always asking “What’s in it for me?” When they hear how your product or service aligns with their needs, they are persuaded to act. To the customer, their problems are urgent, and if you offer a way to solve them, they’ll be more likely to trust you and buy from you.

3. Show the consequences

As humans, we tend to avoid negative consequences no matter what. This “loss aversion” means we’ll do whatever it takes to avoid dangerous situations, losing the things we love or any other negative consequence. In fact, the desire not to lose is often greater than the desire to gain.

In sales, focusing on the consequences of not buying can have a great effect on a prospect’s decision to buy. You may choose to show how much money the prospect could lose if they don’t invest in your product or service, or how flawed their current processes are and how inefficient their business is. Whatever it is, focusing on the negative instead of the positive will have a psychological influence on your prospects, which will lead them to a purchase decision faster.

As an entrepreneur, it’s not uncommon to have big ideas. Ideas that, if worked properly, can take your business to higher levels.

Maybe you’ve came up with a way to enhance your products or services that would advance your company lightyears ahead of your competitors. Or perhaps you’ve thought up a new gadget or tool that, once developed and released, could potentially change the world as it exists today.

The problem with having these big ideas is that sometimes they fail. And they can fail hard.

Big Ideas Can Equal Big Failures

Take Coca-Cola, for instance. On April 23, 1985, this well-known company announced that it was changing its formula and releasing the “new Coke.” While its goal was to update a soft drink that had been 99 years in the making, it actually had the opposite effect. Consumers were mad. Real mad.

People had grown to know and love the taste of Coke, so the thought of it changing didn’t sit right with their taste buds. Many protested the company’s actions, creating such a stir that, in addition to being picked up by news sources everywhere on that day, it is still being talked about today.

Ultimately, Coke recovered and is still loved by many. However, it easily could have went the other way, potentially causing a revolt big enough to force them to close their doors.

So, what can you do to take your big ideas and turn them into wins versus risking them becoming huge failures capable of sinking your business? According to one entrepreneur, you simply do a numbers test.

The Numbers Test

In a People Stack Podcast, Russ Ruffino shares that his company, Clients on Demand, is on track to earn $20 million this year. This number is up from $4.5 million in 2016, just two short years ago, and Ruffino says that one thing has helped him reach this level of success is that he and his team use data to help them decide what to do. “We always run the numbers,” says Ruffino.

For instance, if your big idea is to recreate one of your current products, how much will it cost your company to make and test a prototype? What about manufacturing costs on a larger scale?

Think also about expenses related to marketing the updated product line and costs associated with creating enough buzz to get it to really sell. Put them all together and see what the numbers are telling you.

Sometimes New Isn’t Better

You may just find that newer isn’t always better. In fact, Ruffino says this is typically the case as, usually what he finds at Clients on Demand is they can typically “get to our income goals faster by just getting a little bit better at what we’re already doing.”

Benjamin P. Hardy, a former top writer for Medium.com in the self-improvement and entrepreneurship space, agrees and adds, “It doesn’t matter how good your strategy is, if you’re not skilled at what you do, that strategy won’t take you very far.”

That’s why Hardy recommends that you put yourself in challenging situations. “This is how you evolve,” he says. And be sure to follow your own path and keep your why’s in front of you along the way to remind you of what is driving you forward. Let these motivate you when times get tough.

It’s only natural to come up with big ideas in business. That’s what being an entrepreneur is about. Just make sure you follow your numbers and those big ideas can potentially become big successes.

All businesses go through 4 distinct stages of growth. In the early start-up days everyone is thinking on their feet, few formal processes are in place and sales funnels are still being constructed. Then the business enters the growth stage where things become more formalised and client relationships are maturing into the three to four-year mark. Staff are more secure, and turnover is decreasing.

Next is into the maturity phase, growing by about 5% annually with early employees entrenched with 8 – 10 years’ tenure. This is the stage where you feel most secure, with operations being predictable and revenue steady. But it is also the most critical period in your company’s life as this is when complacency may set in. This leads to the last growth stage for a business – renewal or decline.

Renewal equals customer growth

Your business’s final growth stage must start with identifying what customer value is still untapped in the business. The Pareto Principle or 80/20 Rule, says that 80% of your business wealth will come from 20% of your customer base. Since it costs 10 times more to acquire new clients than to sell to the ones you already have, focusing on existing clients should be a no-brainer.

To talk to and retain these all important existing clients, it is essential to provide value through the entire customer lifecycle; from when you acquire them to engaging them in meaningful conversations to retaining them by continually providing value – ultimately turning them into brand advocates.

Key relationships not just transactions

Engaging with your customers this way moves you away from a transactional approach to a more long-term partnership. But to do this your clients need to trust your company. Not just the sales team, but everyone at every touch-point. I have found this to be especially true for the B2B market. Clients want to do business with a business that continuously adds value to them – not taking their account for granted and making them feel that their business is important.

This more long-term approach means greater value to the right clients, in the right ways at the right times. Collectively, the long-term effect should result in greater customer retention, preventing churn and attrition, turning your clients into loyal advocates. So it is vital to have an ongoing and robust helicopter view of your clients’ sentiment. Don’t put your head in the sand. Be brave, ask the tough questions and then listen to the answers.

It’s not just up to Sales

Identifying who you regard as key clients must be done carefully with clear criteria, leaving you with a core group (your 20%) that is a manageable size. Implementing a more customer-focused approach is a different way of doing business and will require buy-in and advocacy from the highest levels within your organisation.

There will need to be acknowledgement and agreement to work differently with certain priority clients. If a key account is promised priority access to urgent products or service, Operations will need to provide it, not Sales.

Protecting your business against decline can most simply be done by growing value that is already in your business, both by investing in staff and by growing revenue from your key clients, renewing not only your business strategy but also your relationship with the people that enable you to do business.

Most people who say they want to run their own business don’t necessarily end up doing it, but it’s not necessarily a bad thing said CEO of Sygnia Asset Management Magda Wierzycka.

Wierzycka was speaking at the UCT Graduate School of Business’s annual Women in Business conference held in Cape Town on Friday.

“Running your own business does not necessarily mean you got to set up your own corner shop or your own company. You can think of running your own business – as running your own business within a large corporate.

“If you consider the work you are doing currently as running a business and taking responsibility on that level and change your mindset, you will start to achieve even greater things,” said Wierzycka.

Wierzycka went on to share lessons she learnt in her career.

1. You have to follow your passion

If you find that your purpose to work is just to get a paycheck at the end of the month, and if you are deadly bored, then you need to change your situation, even if it means you have to get a salary cut.

Wierzycka recalled leaving her first job to join a start-up. She earned only a third of what she had been earning in her previous job.

“Follow your passion. Whatever you do you must be passionate about it, you must love what you do.”

She encouraged those in corporates to use the “limitless” opportunities to move into a department that speaks to their passion. “That makes going to work everyday a completely different experience.”

2. Consider your purpose in life

When she started Sygnia, Wierzycka said she had to consider what the business was supposed to achieve – apart from making profit. The business had two objectives: to improve financial literacy among South Africans and to provide products at lower cost than competitors.

Having identified these objectives, every decision they made for the business was in line with these principles.

3. Innovate, never imitate

“When you imitate you will only at best be second in line. There will always be someone who is bigger, who has a bigger budget, who has done it first.”

She encouraged delegates to come up with “crazy, creative” ideas. “Don’t be scared to put crazy ideas on the table.”

Wierzycka added that those working in corporates should use their time to learn the basics of running a business. Those basics cut across every business, whether it’s a bakery or a large corporate. The knowledge will help inform better ideas, with substance.

4. Women have to work twice as hard

Wierzycka shared that as a woman she had 60 seconds to make an impression when she presented to clients. The situation was different for male counterparts. Women need to work twice as hard, this means putting in longer hours.

Whining about it is not necessarily productive. She encouraged women to use their talent in multi-tasking and work ethic as that is valued in firms, especially start-ups.

“It’s actually better to start a business with women than men. When you start a business you need people who multi-task. Women can do 10 different things.”

5. Use technology wisely

Technology can help you, Wierzycka said. Technology can help with efficiencies and cutting costs, like those associated with marketing.

6. Speak up

“Women tend to sit back in meetings and not speak up,” said Wierzycka. She encourages women to develop their self-confidence and attend public speaking classes so that they can learn how to share their ideas. “It’s easier to express your ideas if you can articulate or project it.”

Public speaking and debate classes for girls are non-negotiables for the new world, she said.

7. Find a social cause

“When you do anything, associate it with a good social cause,” Wierzycka said. Instead of just being driven by profit, try and do something which is a force for good, she explained.

“It does not mean you must not make money. Profits are important.”

8. Hire culture not just skills

“I have learnt over time skills can be taught, a cultural mindset cannot (be taught),” Wierzycka said.

It’s important to hire like-minded people who fit your culture. Wierzycka said she has not been scared to fire people if she found she made a mistake in hiring them because they did not share the same vision. “I don’t apologise for it, I never have.”

9. No one has money to fund a clever idea

Wierzycka said she often gets asked if there are money for start-ups, to which she said there really isn’t.

Funders want to see proof of a concept. “No one will give money to anyone just because they have a clever idea. There are lots of people with clever ideas. My inbox is flooded with clever ideas.

“A clever idea is not a business. A clever idea is no indication that the person behind the idea can turn it into a business that makes money.”

Funders want something tangible, whether it is a client or a product.

The idea of venture capitalists works in Silicon Valley, right now it is not practical in South Africa.

She added that crowd-sourcing is an option, but is no guarantee of success.

10. You have to take risks

“Life is about risk and reward. Few people will stand up and give you money. You will have to recognise that you have to take risks,” she said.

Wierzycka said if you want a start a business while you’re working in a corporate, try to start saving money as early as possible.

In my capacity as a business owner and venture capitalist, one of the questions I get asked most often by entrepreneurs is, “how do I ensure my business succeeds?” While there’s no straightforward answer, there are important elements that I believe every entrepreneur must consider to ensure the greatest probability of success.

Firstly, no business will succeed if it doesn’t solve a unique pain point or problem for modern consumers or businesses. However, even if a business is able to carve out that niche, there’s no guarantee that growth will follow. For that to happen an entrepreneur must distil the business’s reason for being and then doggedly pursue that vision.

North Star metric

This principle of having a clear business vision guides all my decisions. Whenever I need to validate a choice or a change in strategic direction, or if I’m trying to determine what to focus on, I always refer back to my vision. If the two are incongruent, then I know I need to change tack.

Elon Musk is a great example of a successful entrepreneur who is guided by his grand vision. Everything he does, from Tesla to SpaceX, pertains to sustainability, both for the planet and the human race. It might be hard to make the connection when you consider his various businesses out of context, but everything he creates fits into a broader ecosystem that in some way moves the needle towards his ultimate objective. Developing Tesla cars that run on renewable energy is but a small, short-term plan that feeds into his grand vision, yet it’s also been the catalyst for the evolution of the motoring industry.

Be clear, concise

In the same way, every decision an entrepreneur makes should in some way take them a step closer to realising their vision. In this regard, it is also vital that your vision is crystal clear – a murky or undefined vision will divert you off your path to success.

That’s because you’ll tend to focus on the wrong things, especially when scaling rapidly, or when running bigger organisations, because there are many tasks to complete every day. A lack of clarity also leads to poor decision-making, or, worse, decision paralysis, and that’s business suicide – I’d rather make a bad decision than no decision at all, because it prompts action. However, with a clear vision, more often than not, those decisions will be correct.

Defining your vision

So, how do you know if your vision is clear and, more importantly, relevant and consequential? The way I stress test my vision is to evaluate it every day against the decisions I take, and the direction of the business. This daily process helps to sharpen my decisions over time.

The other step is to remain open-minded enough to accept and acknowledge criticism, and take on board advice from trusted confidants and impartial experts. This is important, because you need to craft your vision based on as much information as possible, including valid criticism.

Ultimately, though, your vision for the business should align with your purpose. Forget about money and turnover as points of departure when defining your vision. These are merely metrics that can determine the strength and effectiveness of your business strategy.

For each of my several business interests, be it VC funding or ad-tech innovation, I have different visions. Each are meaningful to me, but in every instance, I don’t wake up every day with the sole ambition of making money.

While I need to make money to grow these businesses, or build something new, having purpose and vision are the ways I pull through those inevitable challenging situations. Having your vision front of mind in everything you do helps you make better decisions, and makes the hardships easier to endure. It helps you see through the turmoil, because you know where the process will lead, and you always know where the ultimate objective lies.

Someone walks over, introduces themselves and raises their hand out in front of you. How do you know what you’re supposed to do next?

If this were the first time you saw this behavior, you wouldn’t have a clue.

If you were from an Eastern culture, you might go to bow toward this person. But you know what to do because since childhood, you’ve observed many adults shaking hands.

Observational learning is a learning theory in psychology that describes how we learn by watching and imitating others.

In this article, we will look into what observational learning really is and how it helps you learn and grow.

Observational learning in a nutshell

Children learn many of their behaviors and expressions through observation. We pick up things as fundamental as walking, playing, gestures, facial expressions, and body postures via observational learning.

In the 1970s, psychologist Albert Bandura outlined a four-stage process of how observational learning occurs:

Attention: Notice something in the environment.

Retention: Recall what was noticed (memory).

Reproduction: Copy or mimic what you noticed.

Motivation: Get reinforcement from the environment for completing the behavior (or punishment for not).

Pretty simple, right?

Neuroscience provides further evidence. Mirror neurons fire when one animal acts and another animal observes as if the neurons in one brain are mirroring the patterns of another brain.

The result?

You make a funny face at a baby. And the baby makes the same funny right back at you.

What influences observational learning?

Observational learning doesn’t always occur, so it’s essential to understanding the conditions in place when it does.

So when are we more like to imitate others? It happens when:

You doubt yourself and your abilities.

You are confused or in an unfamiliar environment.

You’re in a position of authority, like a boss, leader, or celebrity.

Someone is similar to you in some way: interest, age, or social class.

You see someone getting rewards for their behavior.

For example, let’s say four people go out to an upscale restaurant. One person frequents this type of restaurant while it’s the first time for the other three individuals.

The person who is comfortable in this environment knows what to do: when and where to place the napkin, how the place setting works, and how to communicate with the wait staff. Because he knows what to do, in this situation, he’s the authority.

The rest of his company are in an unfamiliar environment. And when we don’t know how to behave, we tend to look around and observe the behavior of others.

Somehow, we know who to observe by picking up subtle cues. So without having to think about it, the rest of the party subconsciously looks around and begin to discern who the “expert” is and what he’s doing. And this sort of process frequently happens throughout our development and the rest of our lives.

How to use observational learning to perform at your best

Observational learning usually occurs subconsciously in social situations. That is, our basic need to belong, or “fit in,” drives us to adapt our behavior to the actions of others.

But the real power of observational learning comes from making this process active and conscious.

What does this mean?

Once you understand how observational learning works, you can choose to apply it in ways that support your personal and professional development.

Modeling

Modeling

is another term for observational learning. Let’s say you want to become an expert presenter. No problem. Find a few presenters that you believe are highly skilled and watch what they do.

Pay attention to everything:

How do they hold themselves?

When do they pause?

How do they emphasize specific points?

Do they use slides? Imagery? Sounds?

What gestures do they make as they communicate?

Modeling the success of others is perhaps the fastest way to elevate your game and make rapid progress in your development.

Shadowing

In the workplace, observational learning is often called shadowing.

By shadowing an experienced employee for a period, you’ll naturally learn how to perform the tasks this person does each day. This process works effectively in sales environments too.

Apprenticeship

If you study the masters of any field, you quickly learn that they had great teachers or masters from whom they learned.

In Mastery, author Robert Greene points out that those who reach the level of mastery in any field submit to a rigorous apprenticeship to absorb the secret knowledge of those with many years of experience.

Similarly, in The Talent Code, Daniel Coyle highlights that anyone who cultivates talent has a master coach who knows how to break things down and teach things in a way that accelerates learning.

So if there’s any area of your life that you’re seeking mastery in, with who can you form an apprenticeship?

How observational learning can hijack your behavior

Our brains, in many ways, are like sponges. We absorb what we observe.

While this observational learning can be a powerful tool for our personal growth and development, it can also be a destructive force.

How?

Consider all of the bad behavior we witnessed when we were kids (and still today):

Poor attitudes

Nastiness and rudeness

Passive-aggressive behavior

Neurotic tendencies

Addiction

Dishonesty

Deceit and lying

Judgementalism

Greed

Procrastination

Tryanny

Negative self-talk

The list goes on. And yes, we observed and absorbed these behavioral patterns too from our parents, teachers, family members, and friends.

We also adopt behavior we observe on television and in the media. Studies show, for example, that teens who watched a lot of sexual content were more likely to start having sex soon after.[1]

Does this mean that watching violent movies will make you act violently? Not necessarily, but these images are imprinted in our unconscious and often later express themselves under the right conditions.

Here’s the bottom line:

Be very conscious of the media you consume and with who you spend your time. Our minds are like computer hardware and what we observe is like the software. So choose positive and life-supporting software if you want your brain to mimic it!

5 tips on how to use observational learning to your advantage

Here are five tips to make observational learning work for you:

1. Be highly selective on what, who and when you observe

Remember, observational learning is taking place whether we want it to or not. To harness this powerful force, consciously select who you are observing and in what context.

For example, if you know someone who’s highly productive in their work, ask to shadow them as they work.

But this individual may be an entirely different person when they aren’t working. So be mindful of what behavioral patterns you’re absorbing.

2. Pay attention to the details

Those who achieve mastery in any area of their lives do so by mastering the fundamentals and then continually improving on more subtle levels. To the inexperienced eye, it’s often difficult to notice what they do differently.

In the case of negotiations, for example, a skilled negotiator knows how and when to disarm the other player. Sometimes these skills express themselves instinctively, so you may pick up on details in behavior the individual doesn’t even know they are doing.

3. Maintain a playful attitude

Many of us are conditioned to believe that seriousness is a valuable quality for learning. Psychologist Abraham Maslow, however, found that self-actualizing individuals,[2] or individuals with positive mental health, tend to have a more innocent, playful attitude when they are learning and developing.

Research also shows that we learn up to ten times faster in the areas that interesting to us.[3] So stay curious, open, and ready to learn.

4. Rehearse What You Observe in Your Mind

Studies show that rehearsing specific patterns of movement in our mind’s eye can help our brains encode desired actions and behaviors.[4] Many peak-performance athletes and musicians use this form of creative visualization training.

Visualization practices are extraordinarily powerful when you do it right before bedtime so your subconscious mind can process in the images while you sleep.

Cardi B’s was the breakout story of 2017. She stretched her 15 minutes of fame as a social media influencer to become a rapper and reality TV phenomenon. Her hit Bodak Yellow struck a chord with millions because of her bold take on money, her in-your-face confidence and, well, the beat. Her story has also inspired many women working to build success for themselves and their families.

Although we can’t all catapult to stardom and wealth like Cardi B, she is indeed inspiring women with her determination to explore and manage multiple income streams to support herself and her family.

Earning money from various sources is definitely a growing trend. The latest findings from Old Mutual’s Savings and Investment monitor show that already 43% of working metro South Africans have a side job over and above their formal employment, up from 37% in 2017. This reflects a global phenomenon that led to the term ‘Slashers’ being coined, referring to the slash between their job titles: for example, editor – slash – nail technician.

Generating money this way presents unique challenges and risks that need to be carefully managed to ensure long-term financial health.

1. Make a plan

As a slasher who gets lump sums here and there on top of your monthly income, you need a solid financial plan to make sure you are growing wealth from these extra earnings. Speak to a financial adviser to help you put a plan together and check in with them whenever there are any changes in your earnings, expenses, priorities or goals.

2. Build a security nest for rainy days

Until you’re earning millions, you probably should choose and prioritise financial security and savings. Don’t make the mistake made by many people who rocket to success and spend like there’s no tomorrow. If you spend more than you earn, you’re going to run into trouble, no matter how much you earn. Make sure you are saving enough for rainy days.

3. Save for retirement

Earning income over and above your regular salary means you can invest more in your retirement savings. Relying solely on compulsory contributions to an employer-sponsored retirement fund does not guarantee that you will be able to retire comfortably. And if your only source of income is through freelance jobs – and you’re not a member of an employer-sponsored retirement fund – the need to invest for retirement is even greater. Tax-free savings accounts (TFSAs) and retirement annuities can help you grow your money while benefiting from tax incentives.

4. Invest back into your work

Just a year after her debut single, Cardi B is still making waves in the music industry, thanks to her ongoing investment of hard work and capital in her career. Remember to grow your product or service through regular and sustainable contributions of capital. You also need to ensure that you are covered in case of any unexpected events.

5. Enjoy your income

It’s important to reward yourself and enjoy the proceeds of your hard work. Treat yourself if your financial adviser agrees that you can afford to, and if you must. But don’t underestimate life’s simple pleasures, like treating your family or close friends to a delicious dinner or short holiday.